Revaluation Ahead For Ocean City Homeowners

OCEAN CITY, NJ — The average Ocean City home is assessed at $645,000. That's a major discrepancy compared to its market value, which will change as the city is now due for revaluation.

This was revealed at the latest City Council meeting as Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato gave an in-depth look at the proposed budget, which comes with a property tax increase. Read more: Taxes Up In Proposed Ocean City Budget

"It's fair to say that this $645,000 home is worth at least twice that in a lot of cases," Donato said. Some houses have older assessments, some have new builds with more accurate assessments and some are in the middle, he added.

He said the city is in the "very expensive" revaluation process. It'll cost the city millions and take years to be complete.

"I think best case scenario, we get a new set of values on the books for 2028," Donato said.

Property taxes are based on your home's assessed value. Donato said that in a revaluation, about one-third of people will pay more. One-third will pay less. The final third won't see any change at all.

"Everything gets kind of flattened out," he said.

In the $124 million budget, homeowners will see a 3.7-cent tax rate increase. This comes to an extra $242 a year on the average city tax bill - about $20 a month. That's not including county and school taxes.

The budget will be officially introduced at the April 10 meeting and will have a final vote on May 8.